Scholastic
Connecting with Ruby Bridges
When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...
Stanford University
Lesson Plan: Montgomery Bus Boycott
Most of us have heard of Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Martin Luther King, Jr. But what about Claudette Colvin, Virginia Durr, Freedom Summer, or the Birmingham Children's Crusade? A five-lesson unit prompts class...
Curated OER
Paul Conrad's Perspective on Civil Rights
Students review a political cartoon and discuss desegregation. In this cartoon analysis instructional activity, 11th graders discuss the impact of a political cartoon and its relation to a Supreme Court case. Students...
Curated OER
An Introduction to the Central High Crisis
Students identify key events and participants in the Central High Crisis
PBS
African American History: Lunch Counter Closed
Young historians investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies the Civil Rights Movement used to end segregation in the United States. After watching an video interview with Carl Matthews and Bill Stevens who participated...
Curated OER
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
Robert Coles’ The Story of Ruby Bridges forms the basis of this powerful cross-curricular study of civic education and civic responsibility. Class members consider how the book presents authority, responsibility, justice, and privacy.....
Curated OER
A Comparison of Dunbar and Central High In Little Rock, Arkansas
Young sociologists analyze the needs of white and black students. They discuss how Central and Dunbar High Schools are alike and different before 1957. They write an essay comparing the two schools.
Curated OER
Brown v. Board of Education: Success or Failure?
In this Civil Rights worksheet, students complete a graphic organizer by adding details regarding the outcome of Brown v. Board of Education.
Curated OER
Brown v. Board: Where are We Now?
Students explore the concept of resegregation. In this civil rights lesson, students research the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in their community. Students define and research...
Curated OER
Cultural Impact of Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement
Students examine the Jim Crow laws and how they impacted the lives of both African Americans and white Americans. They discuss the Civil Rights Movement and how their lives may have been different had it not occurred.
Groups...
Curated OER
Brown v. Board
Pupils investigate Brown versus Board of Education. They read and discuss a handout, discuss vocabulary terms, and in small groups create a brochure, bookmark, puzzle, and a short skit.
Curated OER
Marriage Equality: Different Strategies for Attaining Equal Rights
Students examine gays rights issues in the United States. In this gay marriage lesson, students investigate how people have made their cases before the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government to secure their...
Curated OER
Virginian Contributors
Students examine the contributions of native Virginians to the United States. For each person, they read excerpts of a book about their contributions and organize the information in a chart. In groups, they become an expert on one of...
Curated OER
Ralph McGill: the "Conscience of the South"
Learners view a film, "Dawn's Early Light: Ralph McGill and the Segregated South." As groups of students observe the movie, they list key dates, significant persons interviewed, and cultural characteristics. Upon completion of the movie,...
Curated OER
John's Dilemma
Learners read and discuss the story "John's Dilemma". As a class, they answer discussion questions related to peer pressure and responsibility. They compare a quote by Anne Frank to the situation John is going through in the story to...
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Supreme Court Rules on School Desegregation
This thoughtful unit explores the history of school desegregation legislation, including a discussion of the impact of the Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education decisions. A six-week plan of lessons, along with other sample...
US National Archives
Our Documents: Desegregation of the Armed Forces(1948)
Read a brief overview of the history behind this executive order that integrated the segregated military and then read a copy of the complete original text.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Jfk Presidential Library: Integrating Ole Miss: A Civil Rights Milestone
This site lets visitors learn about the integration of the University of Mississippi firsthand through the actual letters, recorded telephone conversations, and images of those who made history.
Google Cultural Institute
Google Cultural Institute: Desegregation at Little Rock Central High School
When state and local authorities fail to uphold the Federal Court orders for integration at Central High School, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to enforce those orders. Using an array of photos and primary source...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Seeing Integration From Different Viewpoints
What does the world look like through someone else's eyes? Guide learners in using colorful paper glasses to examine a story of school desegregation from multiple perspectives.
Other
Watson.org: African American History: School Integration
A history of the attempt to integrate schools in Little Rock, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Boston.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Ambiguity of Integration: Making of African American Identity
A painting and a photograph illustrating some of the problems posed by racial integration. Norman Rockwell's illustration is compared to the experiences of Ruby Bridges.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Eyes on the Prize: School Desegregation, 1957 1962
As part of a much larger site from PBS' American Experience's series, Eyes on the Prize, look through this multifaceted site that traces the resistance to implementing school desegregation ordered by the Supreme Court and shows the...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Desegregation Integration, Making of African American Identity: V.3
This resource presents James Farmer (1920-1999), a major figure in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, and the distinction he draws between integration and desegregation, two terms often used interchangeably and often confused.